The Top Stainless Steel Cookware Brands

If you’re new to clad stainless cookware, you should know that there’s a learning curve to cooking with it, especially if your background is nonstick. If you want the best of the best (and can afford it), Demeyere Atlantis is the cookware to get. And even if you don’t want to get a whole set, consider investing in a Proline skillet.

Same for every other piece of cookware, which is why you should avoid sets of nonstick–that, and nonstick simply isn’t necessary on stock pots, Dutch ovens, or even sauce pans. This quality difference is most evident in low priced Chinese-made cookware. Not all Chinese clad stainless cookware is poor quality, but it can be. If you’re buying a Chinese brand of clad stainless, be sure to buy a reputable brand (we like both Cuisinart MC Pro and Tramontina Tri-Ply Clad).

We prefer the Multiclad Pro for its equivalent performance and lower price point. As for handles, most clad stainless steel cookware has steel handles, but a few otherwise good brands have silicone tramontina pans handles (Vollrath, for example). Silicone will wear out way sooner than stainless, leaving you with a pot without a handle. The array of clad stainless steel cookware brands is overwhelming.

And though a lot of stainless cookware sets contain similar sized pans, we gave special credit to sets with large skillets and/or sauce pans (we’re looking at you, Tramontina). The best stainless steel cookware is going to have a thick heating core to provide even heating. It will also have enough stainless steel for excellent durability and resistance to warping. In this review, we will look at Demeyere Atlantis, which has some pieces with full cladding and some pieces with disc cladding. Atlantis cookware is so different from what Americans like and know, we almost didn’t list as one of the top 5 brands. But it really is that.much.better than other clad stainless cookwares on the market.

tramontina pans

And while buying a set is the most economical way to go, you also have dozens of open stock pieces to choose from, including obscure pieces like woks, fish pans, pasta pots, and more. They’re more prone to breaking, they’re harder to store, and they aren’t able to withstand as much high heat as stainless lids. There may be good quality brands with glass lids, but we eliminated them for a couple of reasons. We eliminated any cookware that had glass lids and/or non-steel handles. In recent years, though, multiple plies of cladding have become popular.

For example, recycled iron is cheaper to use in stainless steel production, but can also be more prone to rusting. How do you choose a top cookware brand of stainless steel cookware? How do you buy with confidence tramontina cookware set that you’re getting a good brand for a good price? The market is huge, and the differences between brands can be impossible to see without an expert knowledge of metal, cladding, heating performance, and more.

The pattern of browning on the paper should be a good indication of the pattern of hot and cold spots in the pan. Fortunately, I have both All-Clad and Tramontina skillets at home, so I decided to put them through their paces in a series of side-by-side tests. We tested the stainless skillets side-by-side to see if one came out on top.